Denny's Blog

Today’s church has gotten stuck, there is a huge battle between the modern church and the post-modern church. The modern church being the answer to the reformation and introduction of the bible to the layman. It’s been there a while, it’s dug its roots in and it’s swung hard right on conservatism. In the past few years a new guy has cropped up, the post-modern church.  His answer is to abandon the modern church, stick it to him and swing as far left as possible while loosely fitting God and all his friends into their web of beliefs.

The biggest problem with the term post modern is every one has their own definition.

post⋅mod⋅ern⋅ism

–noun (sometimes initial capital letter) any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established modernism, esp. a movement in architecture and the decorative arts running counter to the practice and influence of the International Style and encouraging the use of elements from historical vernacular styles and often playful illusion, decoration, and complexity.

Decorative arts, some people see post modernism in the church embracing media and new styles of worship experiences as post modern. Some people think this change is great some people dig their heels in and resist it as much as they can. So what should the church’s response be? Is there an answer in the bible that spells it out for us? Is one side or the other right?

I might get some hell fire and brimstone for this but I don’t think either side has it right!

The church’s goal is edification of the saints and ushering new people into HIS kingdom. It is the great commission, and the great commandment. Love God, Love others, and bring others to love God. Now where does modernity or post-modernity fit into that commission? God didn’t say go out and bring others to me but make sure they follow this one narrow path called the fundamentalist interpretation. On the flip side God didn’t tell you to go out and make sure that people should come to Christ disillusioned to the creed and call of the gospel.

Brian Holt wrote a great blog post evoking some great questions over here. Talking about McLuhan and his media theory. This is widely accepted in and outside of religious circles and there are some aspects we need to sit up and take notice of.

The modern church takes a head in the sand and feet firm on the KJV foundation approach to media and the gospel. If you try to tell them different they spout a pre-conceived canned answer at you that is full of King James prose and holier than thou speak. Music is meant for the message and the message for the music. No toe tapping here. If you talk about media and evoking emotion, the only emotion you should evoke is that of the pastor telling of how Jesus delivered the heathen on the front row from a life of rock and roll.

Those modern churches that do apply media come from the stance that the message should never change regardless of the medium that you choose to use.

The post-modern church adopts McLuhan’s full approach that your medium changes your message. This is what most staunch modernists take issue with, the hugely watered down message. Unfortunately most pastors who swing so far this way came out of the modern church and got burned BAD by it. So naturally their response is to offer an ‘experience’ that is wholly different from what they dealt with as a child.

Most post modern churches have an experiential ‘religion’ where the substance is your reaction to the experience. There is a communal approach to the teaching and Jesus goes from savior king to savior friend. I’m not saying that there is not anything wrong with this view, but I don’t think it can be your only outlook on Christ.

Andy Stanley has a message out there talking about how we put God in a box. Our preconceived notion of how God needs to act, react, be and do. I think this is how both sects of churches have responded. We’ve put God in a box and decided how he should act and react within the confines of a certain worldview.

So how should the body of Christ respond to modernity or post-modernity? That depends on if you want to stick God in a box or not. I stick him in a box every day with my own worldview. Our worldview is just the change in message that the medium has given us. (yes I think McLuhan was correct in his statements that the medium changes the message) I also think there are non-negotiable aspects to the gospel but for every non-negotiable there are 100 negotiable ones.

So who’s going to hell today?

After a week off to relax and recharge I came back to more than I bargained for! God decided that I need shown how much I love people. Which isn’t much.

I was challenged by volunteers with a heart to serve but a passion that might outweigh their ability. I was challenged to love them regardless. That’s hard. They are there freely giving of their time to serve God. They’re not there working for a paycheck so sometimes things have to slide.

You also have to realize that while they are there working they’ve got things they’re dealing with and inadvertently that affects their disposition. You know there are things that happen in your life that can affect your mood or the way you respond to things. Why would anyone else be any different.

Something I am learning as I deal with volunteers on a regular basis is while they’re there to serve and worship in a capacity, you’re also their outlet and their shoulder if they need it. It may not always manifest itself in an outpouring of tears or confessions. You’ve got to be prepped for anything. You have automatically stepped into the role of counselor without know it and you have to be able to read your team.

1 Cor. 13:1

Are you a bunch of noise? Are the words coming out of your mouth not matching up with how you love? Mine aren’t. God’s forcing me to try my best though.

This isn’t just with how you handle volunteers either. It happens in dealing with other church staff. How you respond and how you love them in whatever they’re dealing with is crucial. I’ve forced myself to stop and pray for someone when I see them struggling instead of mentally cussing them out for doing something I don’t agree with  (yes I do it…don’t lie to yourself you do it too).

How’s your love?

http://read.ly/Rev22.13.esv

http://read.ly/Phil2.3.esv

As a Christ follower there are many things that shape who you are, what you do, how you act and react, what yor purpose is. These are two verses that have shaped my life. My thought patterns. These two are always on call in my mind. I have a tattoo of Alpha and Omega as a reminder of Revelation 22:13.

what shapes you?

I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve heard on these verses. This is my take on a few of these prosperity verses.

read

read

Because you’re a child of God ask and it will be given to you. These are very consumerist statements that the church has latched on to. You deserve ’stuff’ so ask God for it you’ll get it.

Read

the

context.

Jesus is talking to the disciples about knowledge and understanding of the parables he has been speaking. They still did not understand the “figures of speech” that Jesus was using, and in that context ‘asking God and it will be given’ was concerning understanding of the figures of speech, not asking for material wealth.

read

Ask and you will receive that your joy may be made full. Jesus was talking of his death, resurrection and the things to come. This troubled the disciples and they didn’t understand. Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to ask for a new plasma TV that their joy may be made full. He told them to ask for understanding of the things Jesus has spoken to them so that their joy may be made full.

ask for understanding. that your joy may be made full.

I haven’t done a music post in a while so here is what I’ve downloaded and listened to, loved and hated. These are my personal views, and may not reflect your thinking. If everyone thought like you the world would probably be a pretty boring place.

I enjoy Paramore like a fat kid enjoys ho-hos. Seriously. I love Hayley’s vocals. I love the way the band rocks. I love the spiritual aspects of their music while keeping it mainstream. Yeah it’s poppy, but it’s not your moms soda pop either. To each their own, this album may not be entirely catchy like their last two but if you give it some time it will grow on  you. There are some sick melodic strains and some amazing acoustic pieces.

The Black Eyed Peas….I don’t like to like this. I’m white…I don’t dance, but this makes me want to. yeah there is a gross over usage of auto tune. Thank you Kanye for ruining music this year. Regardless it’s a killer fun album for something different. More of a guilty pleasure than anything, and not every track on here is stellar, but most of them just have that cool way over produced value.

Friendly Fires. This is just a great pump you up but still chillaxed album. Something I work to often. If you like chilled out semi electronic music with plenty of ambient space check this out.

Alright John Mayer…first off…on this album artwork you look like you had a nose job. It just makes me laugh. Easy listening is an understatement. This album is so easy to listen to it’s ridiculous.

Phil Wickham has a way with words, and music. There is nothing particularly churchy about this whole album but when you’re done with it you feel like you’ve been to church. I love being able to feel the intent and worshipfullness of an album. If you’ve never listened to Phil Wickham do it right now. You won’t be disappointed. Vocally inspiring and lyrically challenging.

I think the first time I was introduced to this band was in a Cadillac commercial. Blown away. This is one of those funky ambient albums that you just can’t help but get into. Just something a little out of the ordinary to make your work day go by smooth.

I enjoyed the Bravery. Fun, energetic band with tons of catchy hooks for all the kids on the dance floor. This album isn’t that. The vocals are tense, and over produced. To much reverb to the point where you can’t understand most of what’s sung.

Thirty Seconds to Mars…Same album different name. People complain that this doesn’t sound like Jared Leto…ummm this album is the spitting image of the last…in fact I think they borrowed some hooks from their hits. What was new is that on almost every song you have a huge chorus of fans (or whatever you want to call them) chanting and singing in the background. It actually sounds like a Hillsong album with all of the WOAH OH OHHHH’s. It’s actually a little aggravating to listen to. So if you don’t like the crowd chant/sing deal…don’t buy this.

I downloaded Seabird’s new album today and have yet to listen to it, but the first two seconds of the first song and I’m already in love. Listen to Seabird, they’re from my home area in the midwest.

I was asked to look over a resume by my former professor and adviser at Cedarville University. Don’t worry that isn’t a picture of the resume to the left there. I won’t actually post his resume but there are enough specifics in the email I wrote back for you to get the gist. Coming out of college everyone has the same list of information, maybe just presented a bit differently. Communication and Tech this is how we do.

Contact Info
Degree
Honors
Skills
Work History
Activities
References

Thanks for sending me your resume! I hope that the things I have to say will benefit your job search and if you have any questions what so ever feel free to bounce them off me. Sorry it’s taken me a while to get back to you, your email got buried…with the amount of emails i remember getting in college i’m sure you know what that’s like.

My first suggestion to you if you are wanting to work in a church is make sure you are called. Working in ministry no matter what aspect is tough stuff. It’s draining and downright difficult sometimes. Things can get nasty, people can and will backstab. Church splits happen, you can get bitter and burn out is imminent and you have to learn how to deal with that (each person is different, and I’d suggest surrounding yourself with some quality people who can a) point it out when you’ve reached that point and b) refresh you when you need it).

Alright now that I’ve bummed you out . Your resume is solid as far as boiler plate goes for just getting out of college. A few suggestions for you though. Simplify what you’re offering to people. You don’t need to specifically state your minor. Honors are your discretion, out of college it’s ok to put those on there, after you’ve had your first job you can take them off.

Now if I were hiring for a position and I look at your resume, Skill sets are important to have at the top. good job, I’d put them in order of importance to what you’re applying for first. Remember this is your chance to wow your potential boss if he’s made it past your stunning cover letter. In your cover letter make sure you state what you’re applying for, and why you would be a good fit. Explore the mission and ideals of the church or organization and mimic it back in your goals for employment. Let them know you get them.

I want to know that you have the capability to set up and run a sound system, understand signal flow, eq, compression etc.. I want to know you can trouble shoot hardware and software issues. I want to know you take initiative and a self starter. Then i would go into all of the extra goodies that make you a valuable asset to my team. You know how to edit audio and video, you’re skilled in protools, you’re familiar with worship presentation software, you can run a camera and can direct, technical direct, run lighting and event staging. The line that says you are skilled in the MS Office suite, Easy Worship and non-linear editing systems, does not really go together. It’s good you know each, the non-linear systems are included in your audio and video editing, and If you want to lump MS office and EW into a package I would say you’re familiar with office productivity and presentation software, including Microsoft Office and Easy Worship.

Skills that do not really need to be on there because they don’t apply to what I’m looking for, running radio station equipment (that will be established by saying you worked at the student radio station). Unless you’re applying to also help lead worship in some capacity, musicianship doesn’t really help much here, and leadership experience is a very vague statement. If you can give a specific example like, I have lead teams of students in putting together a large event and was the point person for stage set up and tear down, etc. that would be more preferable.

You don’t need to have your work experience at Home Depot as it does not add to your set of skills or competencies. Lastly I’d make your list of activities more like activities/interests. Keep it semi field related but show what makes you an interesting and unique individual. Make your potential boss want to call you and find out more what you’re about.

The last suggestion I could make is just expound on some of the things you have in your skills list. Specific software is great but when you say things like *Skilled in film-style techniques and camera work, what specifically does that mean? Did you sit in a class on film-style or did you participate in a film race and experience it?

Also, Your phone and address is probably best served if it’s your home address because more than likely, unless you’re planning on moving straight out of CU to your new job, there is going to be some transitional time and you’re not going to want to have to try and get in touch and change out your information mid-stream, including a cell phone number as your primary number if you have one is a good option as well.

Everyone looks at resumes a bit differently, cater yourself to your audience. This is your first line of offense to sell yourself. You want to make you look as good as possible before they ever pick up the phone to call you back.

LIGHTS, action, camo.

You can do a lot of things on your stage to give it some presence but if you don’t have it lit right or well you can ruin the look. Light has multiple functions, first is to give light on the subject so that the audience can see what is going on. This is incredibly important if you’re doing IMAG (image magnification). You want your subject to be well lit, no shadows or hot spots, and you want them to pop off of the background, especially if you’re against a black or dark colored backdrop.

The next, and most important responsibility of light is to paint the canvas of the stage with color. Color evokes emotion and so you must pay particular attention to how you color your stage. Here is a link to a site discussing color and emotion please forgive the post modern spiritualism crap weaved in. I don’t want to get into art 101 here, and im pretty sure you can google what emotions are evoked with each different color, and what colors go together with other colors. Also, match your backgrounds. Either choose a complimentary of lighting with your slides/lyrics used in worship or a matching color. You don’t want to end up with a puce on stage (a visual equivalent to the color of puke…). You can cover your stage with objects meant to be lit but until you add those strokes of color your stage doesn’t really become engaging or active to the worshiper.

Creating action in your lighting doesn’t necessarily mean using moving lights or chases programmed to timing of the music. While you can create motion using these effects you can create motion on your stage using static lighting. What I mean is highlighting the action points on your stage. Use solo lights. Use back lighting to create shadows. If you’re not using IMAG you have potential to do some very cool lighting effects during worship by back lighting your entire band and dropping out the front light. These silhouettes can create some amazing action on your stage and you didn’t even spend any extra money to get it. Just a few dimmer channels.

The reason I said camo in the title is that camo has depth. In order to create a great stage look you need to create that depth look with your lighting. No one wants to be bored or disinterested with what they’re looking at and most artwork that is extremely flat is not any fun to look at. It doesn’t evoke anything and does not engage. I’m not saying you need to have 500 colors on your stage, but having multiple colors and depth of shapes helps create shading and dimension. Speaking of camo, have depth to what you light. Layer fabric and texture for a unique look. I found a roll of shrink wrap backstage the other day and the thought occurred to me, why not hang that, pull and stick it together and then light that for a multi dimensional stage look. It’s all about lighting, texture and using what is available. If you want to use literal camo, do that too. go to an army supply store and buy up some of the tent camo to light (the white stuff preferably, or paint the green/tan stuff white).

Lighting can add a lot to your stage design with out adding any or little cost but is definitely something you need to go into with planning and purpose. Things can of course be done on the fly as you’re putting it together. Most of my genius inspiration comes on the fly . But a game plan works wonders in saving time while you’re setting stuff up.

…still to come (being ported over from my previous blog)

• Where do I find materials???
• I need inspiration, HELP!
• We’re a church not a night club.

In my last blog it was pointed out that I made some very pointed statements based on Christian assumptions. I’m not going to back track on what I said because it’s what I believe.

I do want to say that everyone starts with some basic assumptions in life. I assume that when I say things, the Bible and Christ are truths. You may assume that the only truth is what you can touch or sense. There are plenty of assumptions you make on a daily basis without thinking about it. You wake up and automatically assume that you’re going to get up, start moving, breathing and carrying out your day. You assume that you’re going to make it through your day without dying. You assume that your car will start up whenever you get in it. You assume that when you talk to someone they will immediately understand you.

Assume:  “1. To take for granted or without proof; suppose; postulate; posit”

So since everyone has assumptions about the way life works, and about God (one way or another) I think it’s safe to say that everyone has a religion. Now you’re gonna say, “Whoa whoa whoa, I’m an atheist, agnostic, or some other form of someone who believes in no God. I cannot have a religion. In fact I don’t believe in religion, and everyone who has one is a wimp with a crutch. I rely on nothing.”

What’s the definition of religion?

Religion: “A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe,”

Ok that’s great you can continue to be in self denial for a while.
So basically a person’s religion is built upon their assumptions. There are no cold hard facts concerning the beginning of the universe. Everything is a theory. I know, I believe the bible is true and so therefore I must believe in creation, which I do, but that doesn’t make sense to you. So I assume the bible is true and that makes my belief in the beginning of the universe a theory just like yours. Neither one of us were there to tell the other one how it happened. Now we’re on a level playing field.
You and I aren’t so different after all. We both have beliefs in the “cause, nature, and purpose of the universe” and those beliefs are based upon assumptions.

We both have religions, just with different view points, and with different starting points. I believe that there is an eternity; a place called heaven and hell. That we were born into sin and every single person must make a choice to be rescued from that sin. There is only one way that can happen and that is through believing in Jesus Christ, it’s a free gift and there isn’t any way you can earn it or buy it. Christianity isn’t a cure all, it isn’t a guarantee life will get better or easier or that you won’t trip up. It’s a promise that you’re going to spend eternity with God.

Don’t count out what I believe solely on the belief that yours are the right ones and mine are the wrong ones. The closed minded term goes both ways.

I had an interesting run in with a guy in the gym steam room this morning. I’m a big proponent of NOT talking in the steam room, but this guy had a story to tell. It started out by him making comments about being old and at 65 your body starting to slow down. From there he began talking about his dad and how he lived till his 80’s but he wants to live longer than his father. I don’t know what was going through this man’s head but his entire mindset was on living as long as possible. This conversation was very one sided, but it put a lot of thoughts in my head.

He was entirely consumed with his story, so much so that he took ten minutes in a steam room to talk to a complete stranger of his concern of life. I’ll give you the abbreviated piece. “His dad went to the Dr. for a check up and they sent him to the hospital on concern of pneumonia or something like that but he was physically fine. The man went and saw his dad, and his dad said, I’m fine but I’m done. I’m tired of living and I’m going to see your mom (who had passed away). Within a few days he passed away in the hospital. Nothing was wrong. The man then said again he wanted to live a long time, and not be a burden on anyone.”

Out of that I ask you to pray for him. That he will have an encounter with Christ.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

It really has me thinking though. We run our lives as if there is no end. As if we’re going to live forever in our current state and we need to go as long as possible. Subconsciously is this guy concerned about his eternity? Is everyone? Is that why we put such an emphasis on quality and longevity of life? We don’t want to die because we’re afraid at the end of it nothing will happen or something bad will happen.

Something bad WILL happen.

Life ends and your eternity begins. If you die without Christ you go to hell. You can’t outlive what happens at the end of your life. You can’t fix it yourself.

On the flip side you have people who are so concerned with the inability to fix themselves that they want to end it early and get to the end result. They don’t want to outlive the result, they don’t want to try and fix it any more. They just want what is coming and do not care of the external repercussions (thoughts and feelings of others).

The only problem is the end game is still the same. You start eternity and where you begin the rest of your life, is a direct result of how you left it. (let me clarify that by saying, if you left off with Christ in your life, regardless of your situation, you will begin eternity with Christ).

If you have an eternal perspective. How are you living. Are you trying to live long and out live your consequences? Or do you have the perspective of Paul, that life is better lived with Christ and eternity in mind, and to progress other believers in their faith.

Philippians 1:23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

You might not agree with Christ, and eternity. We can agree on one thing though. This physical body will die. So let me ask you this. What happens if your concept of life and life after is wrong. I know you’re concerned with aspects of life and death. Everyone has the thoughts, and everyone is driven to some extent by them. Just on the off chance that there is something beyond what you’re doing right now, shouldn’t you investigate every possibility to make sure that you end up on the right side of the line?

2. Projection is your friend.

Something that is coming up into church production is projection. If you’ve got the equipment to do some cool projection in your environments you have an inexpensive way to add some engaging worship elements. Of course the cost here is time in producing unique elements but you’re able to taylor each piece custom to your need. There is a whole new market of creatives that have begun to open themselves up to the church world. Worship VJ, video jockey – yes this is a throw back term to radio days…a disk jockey. This person is one who creates visual worship environments using projection in a space.

“The visual image is a kind of tripwire for the emotions.” Diane Ackerman

One growing form of this is environmental projection. Taking projectors outside of the confines of the screen and projecting on walls, sides of buildings, on people, across platforms, etc. A couple of people who are doing this well are Cameron Ware check out his blog on visual worship at http://visualworshiper.com/blog/ or Greg Dolezal & Stephen Proctor over at http://worshipvj.com

VJ (short for) :: Video Jockey (meaning) :: One who creatively captures and effectively communicates a specific message using a wide range still and moving imagery.

If you’re worried about creating a variation of staging elements, cost of materials or lack of creativity on the stage, but you’re knocking it out of the park on the video elements why not consider taking your strong point fully into the room. Imagery can help engage and enhance worship, and it is also a good idea to have the input of your worship leader/pastor. You don’t want to do something that detracts from the spirit of the song or moment. At the same time you may run into some pastors who are either not entirely creative or what you are trying to accomplish goes over their heads. In that case take care not to offend, but also take care to mold and shape their suggestions into something they can own during the set. I have found myself sitting during many worship sets across quite a few different churches where I scratch my head at the background selection. I don’t think that was the intended reception for it, but that is certainly what came across.

This is something you can chance regularly without much effort or expense so get creative with how you project and what you’re projecting. http://www.renewedvision.com/ has a couple pieces of worship software for the mac that has many different applications for the worship environment including a way to split images across multiple screens. I am by far no expert in this area, but am continuing to explore new ways to engage the worshipers in new ways.

“Designers can create normalcy out of chaos; they can clearly communicate ideas through the organizing and manipulating of words and pictures.” Jeffery Veen